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To: Nikita Popov <nikita.ppv@gmail.com>,
 Rowan Collins <rowan.collins@gmail.com>
References: <CAF+90c-Xze=9A66hfDggan-JrebJDNvS1LdU45_Lreg+LXGhuw@mail.gmail.com>
Reply-To: =?UTF-8?Q?Bj=c3=b6rn_Larsson?= <bjorn.x.larsson@telia.com>
Cc: PHP internals <internals@lists.php.net>
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Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2021 19:36:43 +0200
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Subject: Re: Alias stdClass to DynamicObject?
From: internals@lists.php.net ("Björn Larsson via internals")

Den 2021-09-06 kl. 17:28, skrev Nikita Popov:
> Hi internals,
> 
> In the thread for deprecation of dynamic properties, Rowan suggested that
> we alias "stdClass" to "DynamicObject" in
> https://externals.io/message/115800#115802. I wanted to split this
> discussion off into a separate thread, as this can be decided independently.
> 
> The rationale for this is that "stdClass" is something of a misnomer: The
> name makes it sound like this is a common base class, as used in a number
> of other languages. However, PHP does not have a common base class. The
> only way in which "stdClass" is "standard" is that it is the return type of
> casting an array to (object).
> 
> The actual role of stdClass is to serve as a container for dynamic
> properties, thus the suggested DynamicObject name.
> 
> What do people think about adding such an alias? Is this worthwhile?
> 
> Regards,
> Nikita
> 

Well, we have legacy code where stdClass is quite prevalent and the code
works just fine!

In case of deprecation of stdClass I would like to point out that the
benefit of replacing "new stdClass" with "new DynamicObject" in our
existing code is absolutely zero. However, using DynamicObject in new
code has a benefit since the intent is clearer.

I think one also should take into account how much is stdClass described
in documentation and books. Reason is that deprecation is not just about
how it affects code. I'm a bit of a book worm so I'll check up on how
the usage of stdClass is described in some PHP books.

If deprecation of stdClass is on the table I think it should target the
last 8.x or 9.0 zero release.

r//Björn L